"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

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Tuesday, 12 February 2008

Meet our son

Here's a picture so you're not scrolling to the bottom to see him.

It's still unreal that there's a baby sitting on my lap as I write this. We are happy and he is healthy, but gosh, I'm getting ahead of myself. Allow me to indulge myself and tell a bit of the story.

Friday night, SR and I went on our first movie date. He had the afternoon off and we had gone to our prenatal appointment where he and our midwife manipulated my cervix for a while determining dilation, station and effacement.

Then we went to see the late afternoon showing of Juno. It's a very good story and SR and I found ourselves crying a bit more than is acceptable in public (and in front of our co-workers nonetheless). Then we went out for some pretty bad Chinese food. We did learn that my year's sign in China is a sheep and SR's is a rabbit, signs that are meant to be together, but that was no surprise.

At home, just for fun, SR tried rubbing the acupressure points to induce me. Before we fell asleep, I was overwhelmed by a warm feeling and I said to SR that I was so happy.

Half an hour later I woke up with this strange cramp in my pubic symphysis. It came and went in a crescendo-decrescendo nature. Yep, this was it. I watched the clock and they lasted 50 seconds and came every 10 minutes or so. It felt so good! I thought about how amazing the female body is.

The cramps got more and more intense, but still the same time and frequency. I watched SR sleep, feeling bad about waking him up because 1. I wanted him to run the race in the morning and 2. even if we weren't running the race, he'd have to be with me during the whole labor.

Eventually, I woke him up and he was kind of incredulous after all of the false signs from the last couple of weeks. We went downstairs, watched the weather channel, ate and timed the contractions. Yes, this was it, we agreed. We went back to bed. SR slept and I lay there smiling.

By 5am the cramps became painful and about 4 minutes apart.

The exercise ball became my best friend. Just sitting on it and rocking relieved the pain.

SR did a cervix check at 9am and I was 4cm dilated! Yes, this was it. By 10 am the contractions were right on top of each other. I would no longer be able to walk across the parking lot to the hospital, so we got in the car with all our stuff. I had the big exercise ball on my lap. SR dropped me off. I walked into the ER, sat on the ball and told the triage lady I was having a baby.

In labor and delivery, things started out very smoothly. Our nurse was an angel. And we had a beautiful view of the snow covered hills outside.

After being on the ball for a while, I got in the tub, which felt great.

But then the excruciating back pain started. I had to get out at about 12pm for a cervix check and there had been minimal change and the baby was face up! Ahhh! That was how I was born and my whole life I've heard stories of my mother's agonizing 48 hour labor with me. I was cursed! Apparently only 1% of babies are born face up, but perhaps it runs in our family.

More than slightly discouraged, I asked for water papules to be injected into my back. This saline injection treats pain a lot like acupuncture (by confusing the pain signals) and worked so well. But only for a half an hour.

By 1pm I was in absolute agony again. Now screaming and crying with each cursed contraction. At 2pm, the next cervical check showed again very little change. We were pretty much all thinking he was stuck at this point, but no one wanted to say it.

SR, the midwife and the nurse all recommended I get an epidural so I could relax and give the baby a chance to turn. I'd do anything to avoid a c-section.

It took 2 1/2 hours before the anesthesiologist arrived to do the epidural. There were a lot of tears and "why me?"s involved. Poor SR didn't know what to do to comfort me, but he did. I did get fentanyl and nubain in the meantime. I went from the all-natural-birth girl to the drug seeker pretty quickly once I realized all the pain wasn't bringing the baby any faster.

Then, I got the epidural.

Wow! Why would anyone not get this????

Over the next three hours, my cervix went from 5cm to complete. And there was no pain. I actually slept for a couple of hours while the baby turned.

I woke up ready to push, feeling just a slight pelvic pressure with each contraction. And after 15 minutes of pushing, there he was. And we thought we had cried a lot at the movie.

Congratulations! My last baby was born face up too. It was a real chore convincing him to come out. I didn't have an epidural with him but I did with the others. The only reason I chose not to with him was that I know that my labors are quick and I also knew he was my last one. I wanted to know that I could do it. I don't blame you one bit for going for the epi. It's a great tool to give you a chance to rest and relax during a long, hard labor. You should be proud of yourself. Now... on to the really hard part ... raising him!

Yeah, Girl, you guys made it! He is adorable - and the name is..? Healthy is the most important, so good for you on making decisions. I gave birth first time all natural and second with epi - much easier. next time you'll feel it all, not to worry, besides, it's minor. Congrats to you and SR! Now sleep:)

Congradulation, I have been lurking for awhile. You have already learned the most important lesson about parenting. Nothing is black and white and you need to be flexible to do it well. You also have your first success to celebrate. He is here. I am very happy for both of you. Enjoy!

Ok, Do not make me cry at work. I will not cry at work. I will not cry at work.

Do you think he has SR's mouth????? Hate to say it Sister, but he is a deadringer for his Dad. I have never birthed anything, human or otherwise and seeing your very pained face in those pics....I really felt for you!

You did great! Um, did anyone make it to the race? LOL! When are you cleared to run again? Congratulations on your beautiful Baby.....are SR's kids curious and bug eyed?

Thank you so much for all of your responses. SR and I have really enjoyed reading them. It is nice to hear from people who haven't written before, too! We didn't have internet for the last three days, so I will post more soon now that we're back online. To answer Olga's question, his name is Christian. I suppose we don't need to keep that anonymous.

Hello from Rude Skov

Photo by Stine Sophie Winckel

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My name is Tracy. I am a physician scientist from the USA, living with my husband and two young boys in Denmark. I work as a post-doc fellow at Næstved Hospital. I have a scientific interest in vision loss, vision loss during exercise, exercise, running during pregnancy, MAF training as well as nutrition and health for athletes. I also have a love for music, physics, statistics, cycling, yoga, cross-country skiing, bla bla bal.

I was a member of Team USA at the IAU World Championships in Ultra Trail Running in 2013 in Wales. I am now training to run with Team Denmark at the IAU World Championships in Annency, France in May 2015.